A Light Along The Way (Part 1)
by shadowboy8456
Summary: When Percy returns to Camp Half-Blood at the start of his second summer at camp, he encounters a mysterious boy with white hair. Who is this boy? Who is his godly parent? All will be revealed, in time. (Starting at Sea of Monsters.Please Review. Eventual ThaliaxOC.)
1. Chapter 1

So...I've finally gotten around to Writing this fanfiction...Saw the Sea of Monsters movie today, and LOVED the scenes with Thalia...which has inspired me to write this story, where they'll be small continuity tweaks so she'll ended up paired with my character...please don't hate on me for this.

Also, I know Cosmos isn't Greek, but I'm sure a minor goddess wouldn't hurt the Canon too badly

Now then, we'll be starting in the Second book, and going through the Series. Without further ado, on with the show!

* * *

Camp Half-Blood; haven to the Greek demigods, free from monsters, and place of peace.

That's on a normal day.

Today, three Colchis Bulls have run right through the sacred barrier, and are currently running rampant around the camp.

Well... two are running, one seems to be caught on something, the other two racing off, one toward the Son of the Sea God, the other toward a patrol led by Clarisse, daughter of Ares. The third looks down at it's right front hoof to see a small knife embedded in his hoof, a black string wrapped around his hoof as he moved it up, the string itself leading straight towards a bush. Out of the bush, a boy who was holding the string stepped out, no older than 13, wearing a white robe with a white vest on top, his sleeves missing to show sun kissed skin, not exactly a bronze colour, but more of an extremely light brown. His face was obscured by a hood that had a beaked tip to obscure most of his face. The boy then spoke, and took a step forward, his leather boots crunching a fall stick. "Greetings my friend. Whilst thou give me a good hunt?" The boy seemed to smile as he spoke, his voice showing a very small sign that he may have been from the United Kingdom. He then pulled out a dagger with his free hand, and quickly embedded it in the front left shoulder, opposite of his other knife wrapped and embedded around the hoof. It didn't damage the bull, but instead pissed the bronze brute off something fierce, and it simply wailed in pain and began to charge in a random direction. The poor boy had wrapped the string around his wrist, and didn't have time to react before he was getting dragged along, his white robe and vest picking up brown smears as he was dragged in the dirt. The charge didn't seem to waver, instead only increasing in speed in the few minutes that passed. The boy finally managed to look ahead of him, and spotted a smooth rock arching out of the ground. "_I will regret this action_" The boy thought to himself before shifting what little weight he had to move toward the rock, and his body was dragged up it, putting him in the air long enough for him to tug his string and pull himself onto the back of the bull. Thankfully, nobody would see his face as he landed; experiencing the worst type of pain a male can as he landed. Suddenly, a very loud voice sounded throughout the camp

"BAD COW!"

And it was accompanied by the sound of metal crunching under a fist. The bull that had been dragging the boy froze and turned his head to see his fallen brother. The bull snorted loudly, and then pawed the ground with one of his hooves, oblivious to the boy sitting on his back. The boy chose to remain silent, and raised his right hand over his opposite shoulder, pulling a black tube from a holster on his back, and quickly gripped it with both hands. He pulled a part on the bottom back, making a noise that sounded like a gun cocking. "Forgive me noble bull. Thou hast given me a good hunt, but I proved to be superior." If the boy had just pulled the trigger instead of apologizing to the bull, sending a celestial bronze shotgun shell through its head, the beast would have fallen. But he didn't and the bull charged toward his fallen brother as fast as he could, snorting with rage. The boy nearly lost his balance as the bull charged, and quickly regained, choosing to stand and inch his way toward the bulls' head. It took ten agonizing second, but made it, brought the gun level with his shoulder, then fired it three times. The bull fell, and the boy was able to slide off of his upper back and down his damaged head, landing on the ground behind the Son of the Sea God, The daughter of Athena, and the Cyclops, who all turned to face him, despite the daughter of Athena, whom the boy knew as Annabeth, giving the Son of the Sea God Nectar to heal an Acid wound. "Good afternoon to you Miss Chase. Might I assume this is the Percy Jackson we spoke about when we last met?" The boy then bowed, one of his arms level with his waist as he did."Good afternoon to you as well Merek, and yeah, it's him." The girl replied, his grey eyes giving Merek a quick look-over to check for wounds. Seeing none, she then continued her conversation with Percy, motioning her head to the third fallen bull, and then to the large boy, who had an innocent smile on his face, his one calf-brown eyes looking around in wonder. Merek followed her movements, what could been of his face paling as he saw a girl with light brown hair tied up in a now-signed ponytail marching towards the small group. "You-ruin-everything! I had it under control!" She was practically yelling at the top of her lungs, first focusing her attention on Percy, then moved onto Merek. "And you! AS lucky as you were with the _SMALLEST _one, it would be better if you cut the Assassins' Creed crap and gave yourself a full line of vision!" Merek stayed still as the girl, whom he knew as Clarisse La Rue, screamed at him. He then sighed, and nodded, his hands reaching for his hood. "As you wish Miss L-" he was cut off by Clarisse, who growled, and said. "Call me by my last name, and I'll chop off your-" then Clarisse was interrupted by Annabeth, her voice having a very stern tone to it. "Clarisse, you've got wounded campers." The simple sentence seemed to sober the girl's rage, and she walked away with a scowl on her face, muttering that she would return. Annabeth was right, even the daughter of the war god cared about the soldiers under her command. Percy and the large boy, whom he quickly learned was named Tyson and that Percy had problems trouble seeing Tyson's true form, or at least, his one eye. He also learned that despite his size, the Cyclops was a baby or orphan Cyclops left in the city. After that short conversation they turned to Merek, who tilted his still hooded head at them, indicating confusion. He then shook his head "I must still remove my hood, I assume?" He asked which spurred nods from the trio. Even in his past couple meetings with Annabeth over the past month, he had not revealed his face to her. Merek then sighed and pulled his hood back, showing a face with skin that matched his arms, though was a shade lighter, two Hazel eyes staring back at Percy, Annabeth, and Tyson. And finally came his hair. It was cut fairly short, and combed to one side. But that wasn't the odd thing about it.

His hair was as white as untouched snow.

* * *

Clarisse kept her promise and came back minutes later, talking about Tantalus, and carrying the wounded to the Big House, hopefully to be treated with Nectar and ambrosia. It then spurred a conversation about Chiron and Argus leaving the camp, and eventually, something that every camper feared. The state of Thalia's Tree, which was very poor. In the six months since his arrival in the late winter, the enchanted Pine had grown worse and worse, losing its needles, and looking sicklier every day, along with weakening the border. In the first few months, it was only Merek checking on the tree daily, brushing the needles off the form of the fallen girl that was built into the trunk of the tree. That's how he met Annabeth, who too came to talk to her fallen friend, the two eventually talking about the state of the tree the night after a hellhound tore through the strawberry fields. Initially, Annabeth had been angry with Merek for not saying something sooner, but after a few days, forgave him. And over the next couple months, as the seasons changed, they began a friendship that was kindled by the tree, but kept together by Merek's passion for knowledge, whatever the subject may be, sometimes simply sitting for hours on end with nothing but a pile of scrolls and a cup of hot cocoa. But now summer had arrived, and that meant the return of many campers, along with Percy Jackson, who had proved himself quite competent in a fight. Suddenly a very soft, mystical, and calm voice spoke in his mind.

"_My son...you have fallen behind." _

It was the voice of his mother, and it quickly jarred him out of his thoughts. Merek then shook his head a couple times, turning to see Percy and Tyson walking away, moving down toward the Big House, the Cyclops fascinated by every little thing he saw, and was quizzing Percy on everything, the topics ranging from the swordplay arena, to the toilets, and finally the cabins. Merek, who had been following behind them, winced as he heard question. Being a child of The Big Three was a tough enough as is, the isolation of it didn't need to get rubbed in either. Tyson then turned around to face Merek, the innocent smile still on his face. "Where do you stay Mister Merek?" Giving Tyson a warm smile, he reached up and put one hand on Tyson's shoulder, using the other to point to large spot in between The Poseidon and Zeus Merek that was now occupied by a rather large tent. Like his hair and clothing, it was also white, with a black chimney that was burping out a steady and thin line of smoke. "That tent, my large friend, is where I reside. It has been enchanted to be much larger on the inside." Merek spoke in a gentle tone, and then lowered his hand, removing the other to pat the large boy's back. "Come now, there is much to do." He gave Tyson a gentle push forward, catching up with Percy and Annabeth in time for the journey to the Big House to finish. They entered without incident, finding the centaur packing his things while listening to music of the 1960s. Within seconds of seeing Chiron, Tyson yelled "PONY!" which caused the centaur to turn, looking quite confused. "I beg your pardon?" Annabeth then asked if he was leaving, a tone of worry in her usually confident voice. Chiron confirmed, and explained that Mr D, better known as Dionysus, ordered by Zeus, had to punish someone for allowing Thalia's Tree and that Chiron wished Percy had stay away from the camp this summer. In addition, he made Percy promise to not act rashly, which Percy reluctantly did. Thunder then boomed outside, signalling that it was Chiron's time to leave. Percy, Annabeth, Tyson and Merek all turned at the sound of a conch horn blowing, Merek being the only one with dry eyes, due to a lack of time spent with the centaur. The four then raced off toward the dining pavilion, Tantalus, and their dinner. But during this time Merek was slowly formulating a plan. Something had to be done to save the tree and the camp, and he knew just what to do.

He had to find the monster that had poisoned the tree, and pray to the Gods there was some way to revert the effects of the posion.

* * *

Don't worry, I don't plan to change the canon material a whole lot just...just a wee bit.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two already! ...I pray to the Gods someone is reading this. It really is something I enjoy.

Also, couple things for those of you that want the reference, I'm using the hair design of Jack Frost from _Rise of the Guardians._

I'm using the design of Thalia's Tree from the movie, so that means part of her body will be sticking out.

Enjoy, and PLEASE leave a review.

* * *

During that dinner that was attended, most of the campers met Tantalus, a literal ghost of a man that seemed to have an ability to repel any sort of food or drink. Most found it funny, but the as the dinner progress, a theme of seriousness and a false sense of security took over the dinner. Tantalus, in an attempt to focus the campers on others things, reinstated chariot races, giving teams three days to build a chariot and plan for the race. But that was temporarily forgotten as a glowing green trident appeared over the head of the Cyclops, signaling that he too, was a Son of Poseidon. There was a collective silence for almost a solid minute before Tantalus made a joke, causing a majority of those in the pavilion to laugh.

_Hard_

Merek himself was surprised by the event, and seemed to be one of the few people who had a positive take on the situation. But over the next couple days, it was clear that Percy had become the butt of everyone's jokes, and it really took a toll on him. And it showed. Whenever someone teased him and Tyson wasn't within earshot, he would deny a full relation to the Cyclops, and it was clear he was angry at the campers, and his father. The next morning Percy was teased yet again, and took his anger out on Annabeth, causing a rather short, but loud fight that ended with Annabeth storming away. Merek found her at Thalia's tree an Hour Later, kneeling beside the tree, looking down at the girl's stone face. Merek approached wordlessly, his footsteps signaling his approach. Annabeth looked up, a couple tears in her eyes, then looked back down as Merek went around to the other side of the fallen girl and crouched, clasping his hands together. "I'm guessing you say that?"She asked, finally looking Merek in the eye, a frown on her face. "I did. But I have seen what Percy has gone through over the last three days. It seems your fellow campers take great joy in ridiculing him because of his relation to Tyson." Merek spoke softly, moving his hand to brush away the dead pine needles from Thalia's face. "I know...and I've been wondering something. I've seen you here alot over the past...I don't know, week? What have you been doing?" Merek winced silently, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, as if to think, before answering her question "Quite frankly, I don't know. One time it was to see if I could find and extract the poison inflicted on this poor tree, but for all the other times..."- he trailed off, looking up toward the sun shining down from above, the thick treetops letting in rays of sunlight "...this may seemed odd, but I hope thou will hear me out. I tarry around this tree because I feel a connection to Thalia, even though I have never met her." Annabeth blinked her grey eyes a couple times, then stood and spoke quietly, a dangerous tone to her voice. "Really? YOU feel connected to a girl you've never met? One willing to sacrifice her LIFE to save her friends? Tell me Merek, HOW IN THE WORLD do you feel connected to her?" Merek had pulled his hood back up as she spoke and stood, being about equal height with her. "If I may, I'll explain. It's quite simple really. In my past, I was put in a similar situation, forced to sleep as life goes on, with no way of stopping it. That, Miss Chase, is how I feel connected to her" Merek kept a calm tone throughout most of his short speech, though his voice did get a dangerous tone at the end of it. He then began to walk away, his fists clenched into balls. Annabeth then swore under her breath and turned to jog after Merek, putting her hand on his shoulder. "Wait...I'm sorry. Thalia is a...touchy...subject for me. Combine that with the rage Percy let out, and transferred to me, I guess I had to lash out at someone" Merek then turned, a smile on his lips. "This sour feeling seems to have spread around like some disease, has it not?" He then chuckled, using his right hand to pat her on the shoulder. "Come on, I have questions for you. This time, it's the subject of what Clarisse mentioned. What is Assassins' Creed?"

The next couple days passed by fairly quickly, with Annabeth choosing to team up with one of her siblings after Merek denied the chance to team up with her. Merek much preferred the safety of riding on one horse, with much more control than when on a chariot. Due to the heat and humidity of the day, he decided against wearing his robes for the first time, instead choosing to wear an orange t-shirt with _Camp Half-Blood _emblazoned on the front paired with a dark red shorts that just passed his knee. He looked normal, or at least by the Camp's standards of normal. Not wanting to be without a weapon, he went to the camp armoury and chose to use a collapsible compound bow that was almost as long as his arm and quiver of arrows instead of his beloved shotgun. Thankfully it folded to fit into a small circular holster on his back and would automatically fold out again if he grabbed it. The arrows themselves were normal arrows, with broad heads instead of blunt heads, although the quiver did seem to mix and match colour and maker and tended to rattle as he walked. Merek wasn't an amazing shot, but he was confident in his ability to hit the target when needed the most. Satisfied he would be prepared in case of an attack; he set off toward the newly ploughed chariot track (courtesy of the two remaining bronze bulls) and sat on the back of the stone steps that acted as stands. Tantalus then gave a short speech, mocking punishment for killing someone. Shortly after that each cabin rolled out their chariots, with the Hephaestus cabin taking a mechanical theme, The Ares cabin choosing to well...put the so-called "glory" of war into the form a chariot. Apollo's children took a much more simple and calming approach, with their chariot coloured gold, thought it would most likely be dangerous due to the accuracy that all of Apollo's children were blessed with. The Hermes cabin's chariot seemed to be in a state of disrepair, and had a calming green tone to it. Finally the chariots from the Poseidon and Athena cabins were due to pull up. Merek took a short intake of breath in as he saw Percy trying to talk to Annabeth about something, but was distracted by one of the hundred grey birds above him letting off an un-natural screech. By the time Merek finished rubbing his ears and turned back to where Percy and Annabeth had been, both had pulled up to the starting line, the race finally ready to begin.

Not even a second after Tantalus had waved his hand, and the starting signal dropped, there was trouble. The Apollo chariot was rammed by the Hermes chariot, causing it to flop over. Unfortunately, the rides were thrown out of their chariot, leaving the startled horses to charge ahead and cause the Hermes chariot to crash as well. The whole scene earned a laugh from Merek, but his laughter was cut short by a shadow in the sky, which turned out to be the birds spiralling in the air like a tornado. Merek stood, then instinctively grabbed the bow off his back, shaking his fist to make sure it was folded out fully. He was drawing an arrow from his quiver when the screams started. First from the Hephaestus chariot, then they started coming from the crowd. Merek felt one of these birds land on his shoulder and opened its beak, chomping down on Merek's neck. He let out a cry of pain, then grabbed the bird off his shoulder, and used the arrows heads in his quiver to impale the grey pigeon. He tossed the carcass away and jumped of the stone steps, trying to find a good place to fire his arrows from. Not seeing any, he cursed in Greek and simply loaded an arrow and fired. He repeated the action, getting scrapes and cuts, and dodging dive-bombs, firing until his quiver was empty. Out of the 20 arrows he had shot, only 3 had met their mark and killed a bird, with 2 additional wounding multiple birds when they passed through their thin birds wings. But there was still too many, and the campers mixed in with the horde of birds made it dangerous for the Apollo campers to shoot at the menace. Moments after Merek ran out arrows, the sounds of Dean Martin, singing in Italian, filling the air. The birds reacted in an odd way, flying in random directions , mostly up. Now having clear targets, the Apollo campers, lead by Lee Fletcher, were able to slay the horde, the bodies of the bronze-beaked menace littering the ground. Tantalus then congratulated Clarisse on her win as Merek stood beside Annabeth, Percy and Tyson, offering each of them a small square of ambrosia. Merek then saw Tantalus turn and face the four of them with an evil smile on his face "And now to punish the troublemakers who disrupted the race."

Tantalus assigned Percy, Annabeth, Tyson and Merek to Kitchen duty for "Horrible driving, and agitating the birds by drawing a bow", which of course, was false. Personally, Merek thought the Tantalus simply liked to punish Percy, and Merek was either a bonus or victim of circumstance. Their punishment ended up being kitchen patrol-scrubbing pots, pans, and plates all afternoon in an underground kitchen, instructed by the cleaning harpies. The odd part of the job was that the harpies used red-hot lava instead of water, as it apparently cleaned the plates easier. Due to his Cyclops heritage, Tyson was able to dunk his hands right into the water, where as Percy, Annabeth and Merek had to wear enchanted aprons and gloves. The job was worsened by a surprise banquet in celebration of Ares Cabin's victory that included fried Stymplhalian, which were the remains of the grey birds from the attack that morning. Percy was finally able to talk to Annabeth, and explain his dreams about Grover, a satyr he had never met, but apparently was quite close to Percy and Annabeth. The topic then did a quick turn towards the Golden Fleece, and it made something click in his mind. "_If the Golden Fleece could be retrieved, Thalia's tree and magical borders could be healed...but to what extent?" _Annabeth then told the true story of the fleece, and then Percy and Annabeth spoke in union, coming to conclusion that the Gold Fleece would be able to heal the camp, as he did not even a minute earlier. But to find this fleece, they had to go somewhere treacherous. Somewhere no Half-Blood in his or her right mind would go.

The Sea Of Monsters

The night, a campfire was held, hoping to improve the spirits of the campers, who seemed glum after the attack. Despite the best efforts of Apollo's cabin leading sing-along's, the fire stayed fairly small, and turned to a sickly colour of lint. Shortly after Dionysus ditched out to go back toward the Big House, Percy brought up the idea of the Golden Fleece, and asked for a quest to be approved. And it was...but not in the way Percy, Annabeth, or Merek had envisioned. Clarisse was chose much to everyone's protest, and after Tantalus stopped a marshmallow war with a ghost story, he sent Clarisse on his way. The fire was now glowed bright orange, and was reflecting everyone's mood. That is, until Tantalus extinguished it with a flick of his hand, making Merek's head of white hair the brightest thing, save for the moon. Catching up with Annabeth on her way back to her cabin, he dragged her out of earshot of the returning crowd. "Listen. Tantalus may have denied us this quest, but he still can't stop us from leaving, can he?" Merek spoke quickly, looking left and right, watching for the harpies that were supposed to enforcing curfew, save for those on border patrol. "Annabeth chuckled, and patted his shoulder, as if pitying him. "You think you're the only one who thought of that? I'm going to pack my bags, then sneak out. I suggest you do the same" Annabeth whispered as well, and gave Merek a gentle push, a grin on her face "You better hurry. Those harpies never get fed." Merek then moved as if someone had lit a fire under his behind, right into his tent. He came back out five minutes later in his white robes, a circular shield in one hand, and his shotgun on his back, his jacket packed with the bare essentials. They met five minutes later under the shade of the trees that stood over the basketball court, both ready to go. Suddenly Tyson barrelled past them , running toward a voice.

It was Percy, and he was calling for help.


End file.
